Fierce Clashes as Confederate Flags Are Flying

A Motley Crew of Neo-Nazis and Racists

On a Saturday in August a menacing crowd of white nationalists gathered in Emancipation Park in Charlottesville (source). The group was dressed for the occasion in outfits ranging from faux military-wear consisting of boots, helmets and black shirts, to full tactical gear – including rifles. Facing their malevolence stood two young women on the other side of a steel barrier. They were holding hands and holding the barrier. One was white and the other was white. They were protesting against the violent stance the fascists were taking.

‘You’ll be on The First f***ing Boat Home’

(source: Facebook)

The young man who was venomously yelling these words at the black woman hailed the crowd with a Nazi salute. The situation was getting heated, and this is not the first time. For the third time in recent months the small liberal city of Charlottesville in Virginia was disrupted by white nationalists in protest against the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee – a renowned Confederate. The rally was named ‘Unite the Right’. Flanked by the Ku Klux Klan’s former grand wizard David Duke, who was grinning and waving at the crowd, they used force to surge into the park and blocked off the entrance. Inside they were shouting out racist, anti-semitic and anti-immigrant slurs. Women were targeted and called traitors who needed to be ‘subjugated’. From the outside protestors against fascism chanted ‘Off our streets, Nazi scum’ and threw bottles of water at the nationalists.

Neo-Fascist Gatherings, and the Violence That Comes With it on the Rise

After riot police managed to push the crowds back, the governor declared a state of emergency and the National Guard started closing off the area. It was too late for a young woman who was killed and a further 19 people who were injured when driver ploughed into the crowd. According to counter-protestors the alt-right is a dangerous new movement, and that the current White House is empowering the movement by emboldening it. Female nationalists claim that they are being unfairly branded as fascists and Nazis, and their mission is ‘to defend Western civilisation’. According to RS McCoy removing Confederate statues or symbols is stripping away American history.

William R. Feins , freelance journalist from London, UK; he received his B.A. degree in Economics and his Masters in Sociology. William has always been interested in the mechanics of business and the inspiration of original thinkers, and firmly believes that the former can’t succeed without the latter. In his spare time, he enjoys the ridiculous spectacle of watching table tennis on a big screen (preferably at a pub) and reading weighty tomes about World War II.